Protective articles for horses

ABSTRACT

A protective article for a horse includes a protective member and a replaceable securing member. The protective member includes a body portion extending between a pair of opposing ends and dimensioned to be wrapped around and secured to a horse&#39;s body part, and further includes a first engagement member coupled to the body portion adjacent one end, and a second engagement member coupled to the body portion adjacent the other end. The replaceable securing member is adapted to be selectively engaged with the engagement members in a manner that urges the engagement members towards one another. The replaceable securing member includes a first securing assembly adapted to be manually reversibly secured to the first engagement member, and a second securing assembly adapted to be manually reversibly secured to the second engagement member, the first securing assembly securing to the first engagement member independently of the second securing assembly.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/673,323, filed Nov. 9, 2012, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/715,875, filed Mar.2, 2010, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/210,196 entitled “ReplaceableClosure Strap for Equine Sport Boots,” filed Mar. 16, 2009, the entirecontents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Protective articles, such as boots and leg wraps, have been developed toreduce or prevent injuries to horses resulting from external impact.These protective articles typically include a padded protectivestructure that is wrapped around a horse's body part and secured to thebody part with a fastener that is stitched, riveted or otherwisepermanently attached to the protective structure. Examples of protectivearticles are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,548,026, 6,662,537, and7,434,378, and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 20060064950 and20070107389, the complete disclosures of which are herein incorporatedby reference for all purposes.

Protective articles for horses are submitted to harsh conditions thatcause them to wear out rapidly. The fasteners, particularly those madewith the proprietary hook and loop fasteners, such as the Velcro® brandfasteners sold by Velcro USA Inc. of Manchester, N.H., U.S.A., oftenfail to properly function before the padded protective structure wearsout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a horse's leg and hoof, with an example of a protective legwrap covering at least a portion of the lower leg, and an example of aprotective boot covering at least a portion of the hoof.

FIG. 2 is a top down view of an example of a protective boot, includinga protective member and a replaceable securing member.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional schematic showing an example of areplaceable securing member being secured to a protective member.

FIG. 4 is another cross sectional schematic showing the replaceablesecuring member of FIG. 3 being secured to the protective member.

FIG. 5 is another cross sectional schematic further showing thereplaceable securing member of FIG. 3 being secured to the protectivemember.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure describes examples of protective articles forhorses or other hoofed animals having replaceable securing mechanisms(i.e., fasteners). FIG. 1 shows a horse's leg 10 and hoof 12 withexemplary protective articles 14, such as a leg wrap 16 and a protectiveboot 18, secured thereto. Specifically, protective leg wrap 16 is shownpartially secured to at least a portion of the leg, and protective boot18 is shown secured to at least a portion of the hoof. The protectivearticles may be formed of any suitable materials consistent with theirfunctions, including nylons, fabrics, rubbers, neoprenes, metals,plastics, foams or other padding materials, and any other suitablematerials or combinations of materials. Other forms of protectivearticles may also be used for the same or different parts of an animal.Each protective article 14 may include a protective member 20, and oneor more replaceable securing members 22.

The protective member 20 may include a protective body portion 24extending between a pair of opposing ends 26 and 27 and dimensioned andshaped to be wrapped around at least a portion of a selected body partof a horse, and secured to the selected body part in a secured positionby urging the pair of opposing ends towards each another. In some cases,after the opposing ends have been urged towards one another, theopposing ends may overlap with one another when the protective bodyportion is in the secured position, such as is shown with the leg wrap14 in FIG. 1. The protective member also may include at least one set ofengagement members, each set including a first engagement member 28coupled to the body portion adjacent opposing end 26, and a secondengagement member 30 coupled to the body portion adjacent opposing end27. As discussed below, the first and second engagement members may beengaged with and secured to a replaceable securing member 22 in a mannerthat urges the first and second engagement members, and thus the pair ofopposing ends, towards and in some cases past each other.

The protective body portion 24 of each protective article 14 may includepadded or other protective material(s) positioned to protect theselected body part of the horse when the body portion is in the securedposition. For example, the leg wrap 16 may include a generally flat bodyportion 24 having padded materials positioned generally between opposingends 26 and 27. The body potion of the leg wrap may be dimensioned andshaped to be wrapped around at least a portion of a horse's leg 10 sothat the padded materials are positioned over at least a portion of themedial side of the leg. The body portion of the leg wrap then may besecured to the leg in a secured position by engaging a replaceablesecuring member 22 with the first and second engagement members 28 and30 in a manner that urges the first and second engagement members, andthus the opposing ends, towards one another on the lateral side of theleg. When in the secured position, the padded materials of the leg wrapmay protect at least portions of the horse's body part. In this example,the medial side of the leg is covered and thereby protected from impact.Although FIG. 1 shows the leg wrap partially secured to the horse's legwith one replaceable securing member engaged with a first set 32 offirst and second engagement members, the leg wrap may be fully securedto the horse's leg by engaging a second securing member with a secondset 34 of first and second engagement members. Some leg wraps may haveonly a single set of first and second engagement members, and thus maybe fully secured to a horse's leg with a single replaceable securingmember.

The body portion 24 of the boot 18 also may include padded material(s)positioned to protect the selected body part of the horse when the bodyportion is in the secured position. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a bootmay include a body portion 24 having padded materials positioned duringuse in a generally frusto-conical shape extending generally between thepair of opposing ends 26. The body portion of the boot may bedimensioned and shaped to be wrapped around at least a portion of ahorse's hoof 12 so that the padded materials are positioned over atleast a portion of the back, sides and top of the hoof. The body portionof the boot then may be secured to the hoof in a secured position byengaging a replaceable securing member 22 with the first and secondengagement members 28 and 30 in a manner that urges the first and secondengagement members, and thus the opposing ends, towards one another onthe front side of the hoof. When in the secured position, shown in FIG.1, the padded materials may protect at least portions of the back, sidesand/or top of the hoof from impact. The body portion of the boot alsomay include a protrusion 36 on the interior surface of the protectivebody that is positioned to engage the bulb of the hoof when the boot isin the secured position, thereby inhibiting rotation of the boot on thehorse's hoof and keeping the padded materials in their proper protectivepositions.

The first and second engagement members 28 and 30 may include anystructure for manually reversibly coupling the replaceable securingmember 22 to the body portion 24 proximate the opposing ends 26. Forexample, the first and second engagement members each may include anydevice secured to one of the pair of opposing ends that defines orincludes an aperture, passageway, or other form of purchase through,with, or against which the replaceable securing member can be manuallyreversibly secured, including but not limited to hoops, loops, hooks,rings, or slits, and/or selected portions of snaps, buttons, hook andloop fasteners, etc. It should be appreciated that if the first andsecond engagement members include selected portions of snaps, buttons,or hook and loop fasteners, then the replaceable securing member mayinclude the corresponding complimentary portion of such fastenersnecessary for manually reversibly securing the replaceable securingmember thereto without damaging the associated protective member.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first and secondengagement members may, respectively, include first and second rings 38and 40. Any type of ring may be used, although it has been found thatgenerally rectangular box rings work well for engaging strap-likereplaceable securing members. The first and second rings each mayinclude a first side 42 and a second side 44, and may have an opening orpassageway 45 between them. The first side 42 may be attached to anassociated one of the opposing ends 26 and 27 with an attachment member46, such as a loop of stitched fabric or other suitable material. Asdiscussed further below, the second side 44 may be adapted to bemanually reversibly secured to the replaceable securing member.

It has been found that the position of the first and second engagementmembers relative to the pair of opposing ends 26 and 27 may affect howthe replaceable securing member exerts securing forces on the protectivebody portion 24 for securing the protective article to the horse'sselected body part. For example in the case of a boot 18, it has beendetermined that coupling the replaceable securing member to eachengagement member at positions approximately 1-2 inches from theassociated proximal opposing end 26 or 27 works well, and about 1.5inches from the proximal opposing end works particularly well. Moregenerally, in the assembled position on a horse's hoof, a spacingbetween the engagement members of about 2-4 inches works well, and aspacing of about 3 inches works particularly well.

Securing the replaceable securing member to the engagement members atthese positions allows a user to apply particularly effective securingforces to the protective body member when it is secured to the horse'sbody part. For embodiments of engagement members that include rings,such as first and second rings 38 and 40, each of the second sides 44that are used to couple the replaceable securing member to theprotective body portion may therefore be positioned approximately 1-2inches from the proximal opposing end, and preferably about 1.5 inchesfrom the proximal opposing end. Moreover, during use when thereplaceable securing member is securing the protective body portion 24in the secured position on a horse's body part, such as a hoof, thesecond sides 44 of the first and second rings 38 and 40 may beconfigured to be substantially parallel. When the ring sides 44 areparallel, the replaceable securing member may apply substantially evensecuring forces along the length of the second sides 44 in contact withthe replaceable securing member, and thus to the protective bodyportion. If uneven securing forces are applied by the replaceablesecuring member to the protective body portion, then the protective bodyportion may tend to deform relative to the shape of the body part, suchas a hoof. Depending on the deformation, this may tend to dislodge theprotective body portion from its proper position on the horse's bodypart during use.

As discussed above, the replaceable securing member 22 may be adapted tobe selectively engaged with the first and second engagement members 28and 30 in a manner that urges the first and second engagement members,and thus the pair of opposing ends 26 and 27, towards one another. Thereplaceable securing member may include a generally elongate element 48,such as a strap, belt, rope, cord, etc. coupled to a first securingassembly 50 adapted to be manually reversibly secured to the firstengagement member 28, and a second securing assembly 52 adapted to bemanually reversibly secured to the second engagement member 30. Thefirst securing assembly may be adapted to be secured to the firstengagement member independently of the second securing assembly, suchthat the replaceable securing mechanism can be anchored to the firstengagement member prior to engaging the replaceable securing member withthe second engagement member. The second securing assembly then may beengaged with and manually reversibly secured to the second engagementmember in a manner that secures the protective body portion in thesecured position on the horse's body part. It should be appreciated thatthe term “manually reversibly secured” in this context means that eachsecuring assembly can be easily and reversibly secured to and unsecuredfrom the engagement members without affecting the structural integrityof the replaceable securing mechanism and the protective membergenerally.

The first and second securing assemblies 50 and 52 may include anydevices suitable for engaging and securing to the first and secondengagement members. The first and second securing assemblies may includehooks, buckles, rings, hook and loop fasteners, selected portions ofsnaps, buttons, or hook and loop fasteners, or any other suitablestructures. As discussed above, if the first and second engagementmembers include selected portions of snaps, buttons, or hook and loopfasteners, then the replaceable securing member may include thecorresponding complementary portion of such fasteners necessary formanually reversibly securing the replaceable securing member thereto.

In some embodiments, such as the one shown in FIGS. 3-5, the replaceablesecuring member 22 may include a strap 48, the first securing assembly50 may include first and second securing elements 54 and 56 coupled tothe strap, and the second securing assembly 52 may include third andfourth securing elements 58 and 60 coupled to the strap. The firstsecuring assembly 50 may be manually reversibly secured to the firstengagement member 28 by securing the first securing element 54 to thesecond securing element 56 with the strap 49 extending around the firstengagement member. For example, the first and second securing elementsmay be complementary hook and loop fasteners, although any suitablesecuring elements may be used. The second securing assembly 52 may thenbe manually reversibly secured to the second engagement member 30 bysecuring the third securing element 58 to the fourth securing element 60with the strap extending around the second engagement member. The thirdand fourth securing elements also may be complementary hook and loopfasteners, although any suitable securing elements may be used. Althoughthe second and fourth securing elements 56 and 60 are shown to beseparate structures in FIGS. 3-5, it should be appreciated that thesecond and fourth securing elements also may be portions of the samestructure.

In some embodiments, such as the one shown in FIGS. 3-5, the strap 48may include first, second and third contiguous segments 62, 64 and 66,and first and second opposing sides 68 and 70. The first securingelement 54 may be coupled to the first segment 62 on the first side 68,the second securing element 56 may be coupled to the second segment 64on the first side 68, the third securing element 58 may be coupled tothe third segment 66 on the first side 68, and the fourth securingelement 60 may be coupled to the first segment 62 on the second side 70.The first, second and third segments may each have substantially thesame length, or may have different lengths. Additionally oralternatively, if the second and third securing elements 56 and 58 areboth hook portions or are both loop portions of hook and loop fasteners,such as is shown in FIG. 3, then the second and third contiguoussegments 64 and 66 either may include (1) a continuous stretch of thehook or loop securing element extending along the length of the secondand third contiguous segments, or (2) a non-continuous stretch of hookor loop securing element with gaps between the securing elementspositioned along the length of the second and third contiguous segments.

The replaceable securing member 22 described above allows for astep-wise process of securing the replaceable securing member to thefirst and second engagement members 28 and 30 in a manner that quickly,easily and manually reversibly secures the protective body portion 24 tothe horse. First, the process may include, for example, manuallyreversibly securing the first securing assembly 50 to the firstengagement member 28 (or the second engagement member 30) prior toengaging the second securing assembly 52 with the second engagementmember 30 (or the first engagement member 28). For example, as shown inFIGS. 3-4, the first segment 62 of strap 48 may be engaged with thefirst engagement member 28, such as by inserting the first segmentthrough passageway 45 defined in the first engagement member. The firstsecuring element 62 then may be secured to the second securing element64, with the strap extending around the first engagement member 28, suchas by folding the strap around the first engagement member and engagingthe first and second securing elements with one another, as shown inFIG. 4. At this point, the first securing assembly is secured to thefirst engagement member, thereby anchoring the replaceable securingmember to the first engagement member.

After securing the first securing assembly 50 to the first engagementmember 28, the process may include manually reversibly securing thesecond securing assembly 52 to the second engagement member 30 in amanner that draws the first and second engagement members, and thus thepair of opposing ends 26, towards one another to a secured position. Forexample, as shown in FIGS. 4-5, the third segment 66 of strap 48 may beengaged with the second engagement member 30, such as by inserting thethird segment through passageway 45 defined in the second engagementmember. The third securing element 66 then may be secured to the fourthsecuring element 68, with the strap extending around the secondengagement member 30, such as by folding the strap around the firstengagement member and engaging the third and fourth securing elementswith one another, as shown in FIG. 5. When the second securing assemblyis secured to the second engagement member, the replaceable securingmember 22 may apply a securing force F to the first and secondengagement members that urges the first and second engagement members,and thus the pair of opposing ends, towards one another. For example,when the third securing element is moved into a position where it can beengaged with the fourth securing element, the length of strap betweenthe first and second engagement members may shorten, thereby urging thefirst and second engagement members together.

It will be appreciated that a securing assembly as has been describedmay advantageously include a protective article with a replaceablefastener, so that when an old fastener fails, a new fastener may be usedwithout the need to also replace the entire padded protective structure.This may prolong the useable life of the padded protective structure.

It is believed that this disclosure encompasses multiple distinctinventions with independent utility. While each of these inventions hasbeen described in its best mode, numerous variations are contemplated.All novel and non-obvious combinations and subcombinations of thedescribed and/or illustrated elements, features, functions, andproperties should be recognized as being included within the scope ofthis disclosure. Applicant reserves the right to claim one or more ofthe inventions in any application related to this disclosure. Where thedisclosure or claims recite “a,” “a first,” or “another” element, or theequivalent thereof, they should be interpreted to include one or moresuch elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more suchelements. Ordinal indicators, such as first, second or third, foridentified elements in the specification or the claims, are used todistinguish between the elements and do not indicate either a requiredor limited number of such elements or a particular position or order ofsuch elements unless otherwise specifically indicated. Accordingly, thesame ordinal indicators may be used on different elements in differentsituations.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing a protectivearticle for a hoofed animal, the protective article having a pair ofmetal receiving elements, each of the metal receiving elementscomprising a closed loop having at least one linear side, providing aremovable fabric strap configured to be threaded through the receivingelements, the fabric strap including, on one surface, a first portionhaving hook fasteners and a second portion having loop fasteners, and,on an opposite surface, a portion having loop fasteners, and threadingthe strap through the receiving elements and folding the strap about thereceiving elements in thirds, with a receiving element on each side ofthe folded strap, forming three layers of the strap, such thatsubstantially all of the loop fasteners are engaged by the hookfasteners and both of the receiving elements are releasably capturedbetween the layers formed by folding the strap.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein the receiving elements are pivotably mounted on a fabric body.3. The method of claim 1 wherein the fabric strap is configured suchthat the loop fasteners on the two surfaces are positioned on oppositesides of a single section of the strap.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein, when the fabric strap is threaded through the receivingelements and folded over, substantially all of the loop fasteners aresandwiched between opposed areas of the hook fasteners.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein threading the strap through the receiving elementsincludes threading an end of the fabric strap adjacent the loopfasteners through one of the receiving elements and folding the end overso that the loop fasteners on the second portion engage opposed hookfasteners on the first portion, and wherein doing so causes the fabricstrap to be releasably retained on the receiving element through whichthe end was threaded.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the metalreceiving elements comprise rectangular box rings.
 7. A protectivearticle for a hoofed animal, the protective article comprising: aprotective member; a pair of metal receiving elements disposed on theprotective member, each of the metal receiving elements comprising aclosed loop having at least one linear side, and a removable fabricstrap configured to be threaded through the receiving elements, thefabric strap including, on one surface, a first portion having hookfasteners and a second portion having loop fasteners, and, on anopposite surface, a portion having loop fasteners, wherein the strap isconfigured so that when the strap is threaded through the receivingelements and folded about the receiving elements in thirds, with areceiving element on each side of the folded strap, forming three layersof the strap, substantially all of the loop fasteners are engaged by thehook fasteners and both of the receiving elements are releasablycaptured between the layers formed by folding the strap.
 8. The articleof claim 7 wherein the receiving elements are pivotably mounted on afabric body.
 9. The article of claim 7 wherein the fabric strap isconfigured such that the loop fasteners on the two surfaces arepositioned on opposite sides of a single section of the strap.
 10. Thearticle of claim 7 wherein, when the fabric strap is threaded throughthe receiving elements and folded over, substantially all of the loopfasteners are sandwiched between opposed areas of the hook fasteners.11. The article of claim 7 wherein the metal receiving elements compriserectangular box rings.